(results!!)Round ball accuracy out of a jug choked smoothbore

[Greenmtnboy]

Howdy all,
As you all know there is much debate aver smooth bore accuracy and jug choking.
After Coyote Joe Jug choked my smooth bore I shot it with a PRB and got decent 25 yrd accuracy but dismal 50 yrd six inch groups.
I had a smooth bore competition this spring so I asked Mike brooks what I could do to wring out more accuracy.
The thing I came away with is to get rid of the overpowder wad and seat my PRB directly on top of my load which I did and got great 25 yrd accuracy.
I competed in the MT saunter this spring at Happy Canyon and hit every target using a PRB.
I put my smooth bore away for further R&D this winter, well come to find out we have a smooth bore comp this coming weekend at Como.
So I took said smoothbore out to my summer range to get it a little more point of aim( it was shooting 4" high at 25 yrds).
After I adjusted my sites I was only 1.5" at 25 yrds, I figured sence I was benching it (across the hood of my truck) I might as well shoot it at 50 yrds to see what kind of group I could get, expecting minute of deer I was very surprised at the results.
I am shooting a TVM American fowler 42 inch Long Hammock barrel.
62 cal with a .600 RB .018 pillow ticking using a wet lube one part Murphy oil, one part Ballistol. seven part water, with 60 grns of ffg Goex.
I had Coyote Joe put in a full jug choke that patterned 84 percent at 40 yrds because I am first and formost a tukey hunter with my smooth bore.
The thing I noticed that created accuracy as well as losing the overpowder wad is decreasing my powder charge to 60 grns and using a all lead ball.
:thumbsup:

 

[Dave K]

Wow, I am impressed! I certainly hope the 62cal./20ga. fowler I am working on can come that close. :thumbsup:

 

[kherring]

I am impressed. I am now rethinking my 20 bore load. I was shooting 70 gr of 2f with a card and am nowhere near that tight a group. I will be at the range tomorrow.

 

[alrany187]

Howdy all,
As you all know there is much debate aver smooth bore accuracy and jug choking.
After Coyote Joe Jug choked my smooth bore I shot it with a PRB and got decent 25 yrd accuracy but dismal 50 yrd six inch groups.
I had a smooth bore competition this spring so I asked Mike brooks what I could do to wring out more accuracy.

Thank you very much for answering this question. I have heard that roundball accuracy improved with jug choking, but this is one of the first definitive demonstrations of how much.I will be sending my smooth barrel out shortly for Caywood to jug choke full for me.

 

[jmac]

Hmmm, I've an older TVM American Fowler built by Jack Garner before he sold to Matt, I don't get NEAR that accuracy. 'course the shooter may have something to do with it, maybe a LOT to do with it. Mine isn't jug choked either but what your saying might be worth trying. I use a soft .600 RB with 55 grains FFF, an .015 patch with a 4-1 olive oil to bees wax lube, a card wad coupled with a cushion wad. Perhaps I should try going with out the wadding and use the thicker patching. I've tried FF but mine seems to like FFF better...ain't it fun? :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Nice! I may have to try round balls in my jug choked 12 bore.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I am impressed. I am now rethinking my 20 bore load. I was shooting 70 gr of 2f with a card and am nowhere near that tight a group. I will be at the range tomorrow.

Let us know what you find out.
:thumbsup:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Howdy all,
As you all know there is much debate aver smooth bore accuracy and jug choking.
After Coyote Joe Jug choked my smooth bore I shot it with a PRB and got decent 25 yrd accuracy but dismal 50 yrd six inch groups.
I had a smooth bore competition this spring so I asked Mike brooks what I could do to wring out more accuracy.

Thank you very much for answering this question. I have heard that roundball accuracy improved with jug choking, but this is one of the first definitive demonstrations of how much.I will be sending my smooth barrel out shortly for Caywood to jug choke full for me.

P.T.
CoyoteJoe, not only are his prices very resonable but he also patterens your smoothbore afterward.
:thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Perhaps I should try going with out the wadding and use the thicker patching.

When I first tried PRBs out of a smoothbore (no jug choke) it was after years of PRBs out of rifles using Oxyoke OP wads which had always made improvements.

So I never gave it a second thought and started out using Oxyoke OP wads with my smoothbore PRB loads...chased my tail trying to eliminate the occasional flyer over the course of 3 range trips changing everything under the sun...except the wad.

On the 3rd range trip I sat there pulling my hair out and in sheer exasperation had the thought to try leaving the wad out and that was it...no more flyers, groups tightened a little more...added the wad back and started getting the occasional flyer again.

I even then experimented with multiple wads but it became clear it was a wad or no-wad situation and I finally stopped wasting my time and money.


I've recently had a Rice .62cal Jug Choked Full by Caywood for a Virginia style turkey / squirrel gun and it appears to be a textbook professional looking job with a nice smooth taper from the expanaion step back towards the muzzle...it'll be months before I get a stock wrapped around it to try it out though...when I do I plan to test the PRB accuracy as well as shot loads...will post.

 

[Croppy Boy]

Nice! I may have to try round balls in my jug choked 12 bore.

I have a 12 gauge fowler jug choked to full. I've shot 0.69 round balls with mixed results, I get the odd unexplained flyer.
I used to load the PRB directly on the powder but switched to using an O/P card. The 0.020 patch has to be perfectly centred over the bore or it can loose the ball while passing through the jug choke. This happened to me and instead of taking the patch out, I ran down an O/S card and fired. I subsequencly found that the patch remained in the barrel, it struck me that this could lead to a cook off if it was still smouldering when reloading. Hense the use of the O/P card.

 

[Skychief]

Holey Moley Green Mountain!!! That is some great smoothbore shooting! I want to build a smooth .62 as well and plan on shooting a lot of prb's through it. You may have seen my thread asking about smoothbore accuracy on here. You have given me some encouragement to take the smoothie plunge!

Is it safe to say that jug choking generally improves prb groupings versus a cylinder bore? Or can one expect similar groups as you shot above with some (good shooting) true cylinder bores?

I love to turkey hunt too and the cylinder boring just adds to the difficulty (which I like) in calling them in close enough for a kill. Nuthin against a feller that wants a jug choked gun to hunt them with, please understand. This is why I want to know more about accuracy expectations from true cylinder bores with prb's.

Again, fantastic shooting GreenMountainBoy! :thumbsup:

 

[torn moc]

I cant see any logic that would explain why round ball accuracy would be improved by jug choking a barrel...

 

[roundball]

I cant see any logic that would explain why round ball accuracy would be improved by jug choking a barrel...

Agree...the best one could hope for would be that it was no worse than before it was Jug Choked

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree. If a gun does not shoot RB well before its jug choked, its not going to shoot them better afterwards, either. There is No reason to conclude that the Jug choking is responsible for the fine accuracy. What is worthwhile is the lower powder charge.

I will want to try that, with and without a Walter's Vegetable Fiber Wad, as a firewall. :thumbsup:

 

[alrany187]

Thank you very much for answering this question. I have heard that roundball accuracy improved with jug choking, but this is one of the first definitive demonstrations of how much.I will be sending my smooth barrel out shortly for Caywood to jug choke full for me.

P.T.
CoyoteJoe, not only are his prices very resonable but he also patterens your smoothbore afterward.
:thumbsup:

Could you private mail me with how much and an adress to contact? Thanks.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I've sent you a PM Irish.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I cant see any logic that would explain why round ball accuracy would be improved by jug choking a barrel...

I agree, but it's doesen't seem to hurt eather.
:thumbsup:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Nice! I may have to try round balls in my jug choked 12 bore.

I have a 12 gauge fowler jug choked to full. I've shot 0.69 round balls with mixed results, I get the odd unexplained flyer.
I used to load the PRB directly on the powder but switched to using an O/P card. The 0.020 patch has to be perfectly centred over the bore or it can loose the ball while passing through the jug choke. This happened to me and instead of taking the patch out, I ran down an O/S card and fired. I subsequencly found that the patch remained in the barrel, it struck me that this could lead to a cook off if it was still smouldering when reloading. Hense the use of the O/P card.

Do you cut your patches at the barrel? or use pre cut patches.
Maby your patches arn't big enough if you are using pre cut.
I always cut my patches at the bore with both rifled and smooth barrels for a "perfect" fit.
:thumbsup:

 

[DrLaw]

Ummmm, uh,,,

what is a jug choke?

The Doc is out now. :v

 

[Croppy Boy]

Do you cut your patches at the barrel? or use pre cut patches.
Maby your patches arn't big enough if you are using pre cut.
I always cut my patches at the bore with both rifled and smooth barrels for a "perfect" fit.
:thumbsup:

I am using the pre cut patches, .60-.69 wonder lubed. There's plenty of room on the 20 gauge but tight enough on the 12 gauge. I also have to use the 12 bore jag when running down cards as they can go vertical when passing through the jug choke if I use anything smaller.